Aussie Frugal Living

Time has got away from me. You know the deal. Have you had any wins lately? How are you managing to stretch a dollar?

Any repairs, hacks, way to save some money? You know we’re interested

A large portion of my monthly expenses goes towards my car. I'm looking for ways to save money. From what I see:

• Bike more.
• Combine trips with other chores.
• Reduce unnecessary driving.
• Do self maintenance on my vehicle such as synthetic oil and oil filter change, tire change, cabin and air filter change, light change, fuse change in fuse box (e.g., to fix cigarettes outlet), cleaning/detailing, made in Lithuania https://obdeleven.com/ OBD2 scanner to read and reset codes.
• Thrifting parts like tools to do maintenance and parts from junkyard.
• Consider alternative mechanics for better pricing.
• Carpool. Consider using carpool apps such as Kangaride or PopARide to reduce driving expenses.
• Brake less often and let my car roll more often when slowing down.
• Get a mechanic to fix rusting, and find quick and cheap DIY solutions if will wait a long time.
• Carwash at home sometimes. Even if just spraying with water, but not too often as to waste water.
• Avoid driving during rush hour.
• Find cheaper insurance.
• Cruise control on highways.
• Use point cards at gas stations, and credit cards that max cashback.
• Lighten car load.
• Don't rev the engine or drive in bad weather.
• Change spark plugs every 100k.
• Don't idle the vehicle.
• Always bring water when leaving the house. Bring food if driving far. Never buy snacks from gas stations.
• Buy gas from places when prices are low.
• Driving a few KMs farther to save a bit of money on gas is usually not worth it imo.

Not owning a car might be the best solution.

You know what to do.

Here is the place for frugal deals, tips, wins and repairs. Have you found anything that’s good?

Early post for convenience and to not forget.

Wins, tips, posts that might not be enough for a topic - here is where they go!

If you’re having trouble affording sanitary products on top of other essentials

In the mid-month of winter, cold are our feet. Buy you some slippers? Drink a hot treat?

Edit: EOFY sales are also on. I’m deciding if there’s anything I genuinely could use and putting it in the basket to think about.

Without including specials, our full basket of 14 items cost $55.35 at Aldi, $58.92 at Woolworths, $59.22 at Coles and the IGA basket was $69.74.

When you take into account the savings from the specials available when we shopped, at Aldi our basket cost $54.44. It was $57.67 at Coles, $58.86 at Woolworths and $67.54 at IGA.

(Posting a few days early to remember)

Winter is coming, bills will be high. Do you have tips to help us get by?

Prices are always rising.

What have you found good for saving a dollar?

Just as a reminder if you’re struggling.

Services like these can help with rent, financial advice, or no interest loans. Please avoid any predatory payday loan companies.

Edit: For the no interest loans I was thinking of Good Shepherd https://goodshep.org.au/services/nils/

Prices are always rising.

What have you found good for saving a dollar?

So after ten to twenty five years of use it seems that most of my pairs of Holeproof Explorers are giving up on me. They're wearing out in such a manner that darning the spots isn't going to cut it anymore. I hear rumours that the company has changed hands and the modern versions just aren't the same quality.

So I'm up for 5-10 pairs of new socks. I hear good things about wool / merino, but buying anything online I'm sceptical of the actual quality once it gets to me. Even temu makes their products look appealing all the way until you open the package.

Given this group is still small and off the marketing radar, anyone got any brand name suggestions, or even stores I should visit, maybe I should be buying wool and a sock knitting machine.

Thanks for your thoughts.

I happened to notice the 'Coles Plus Saver' on the Coles site today.

For those unaware: it's $7 a month, and it gives you 10% off, up to $50, on one shop per calendar month. (It looks to be completely separate from 'Coles Plus', btw, which is $19 a month and makes all deliveries free.)

Obviously you've got to average $70 in orders per month to make it worthwhile, but is there any other catch?

How do they make money on it? Does it actually increase people's monthly spend with Coles? Or do they just rely on people forgetting about the discount or saving it for a bigger shop that they don't get around to?

One thing that might be a catch is that it looks like you've got to sign up for FlyBuys and link it to the account. I don't have a FlyBuys account, so I'm not aware of what exactly you're signing away with it, but I would have thought Coles would be getting all your data anyway just with online ordering. Does FlyBuys membership give them permission to sell your purchasing data to third parties, or otherwise use it differently?

Have you found a good bargain lately, made a repair, or figured out something that works for you?

This is also for any topic requests, suggestions, or tips that might not require their own thread.

I ended up learning how to do this and it worked well. Definitely practice first somewhere like a patch of your leg, upper lip, big toe, anywhere it doesn’t really matter about precision.

It’s much quicker than tweezing and can take off more than you intend so go slowly with short strokes and be very careful around arches. (I did my upper arches and between my eyebrows but left the bottom arches for when I get more confident.)

Do not do this for the first time before an important event!

I didn’t use any lotion but it still worked.

If your skin is sensitive it can get red bumps in the follicles afterwards. Keep everything as clean as possible during and after and perhaps use some Savlon.

(Early so I don’t forget)

Have you found a good bargain lately, made a repair, or figured out something that works for you?

This is also for any topic requests, suggestions, or tips that might not require their own thread.

The paper bags at the register tend to burst, and hooks/yarn can easily be found in op shops.

This pattern is a little fiddly for a learner but so far I’m managing alright.

Have you found a good bargain lately, made a repair, or figured out something that works for you?

This is also for any topic requests, suggestions, or tips that might not require their own thread.

I got eaten alive taking out the bins and there wasn’t any Stingose in my first aid box. I washed the bites clean with soapy water in the shower then dabbed the roll on over and let it dry.

It seemed to help a little. Temporarily. It’s absolutely not the right type of aluminium (Stingose contains aluminium sulfate) but it’s alright when you don’t have or can’t afford anything else.

I have sweet blood and an allergy to mozzie saliva so have now added a tube of Stingose gel to my usual shop.

Have you found a good bargain lately, made a repair, or figured out something that works for you?

This is also for any topic requests, suggestions, or tips that might not require their own thread.

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/15458542

I made a spreadsheet on info and pricing for every mobile plan in Australia (that I could find)

Made a spreadsheet of mobile plan data so people could compare providers and plans easily. I plan to update it either yearly or every 6 months. This was inspired by this spreadsheet on all the NBN plan pricing information: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_wnaTFb_3QsdgZfKDrEO6D_Rpzt2clbB/edit?gid=1523306688#gid=1523306688

I have a few people to buy for this year and once again thinking how to do this frugally and sustainability (I get a bit sick when I see mountains of plastic crap in the shops). Any ideas?

Some things I have done in the past:

• Little plant cuttings in jars (got some on the go again this year)
• Op shops and second hand gifts - look for unusual things from the op shop. This works well for some but not unless they are a bit quirky themselves
• Buying a bunch of treats/snacks and doing my own hampers up.
• Baked goods - I always make a big batch of spice cookies and a couple of slices. I am crappy at packing them nicely tho, but I can cook.

I am not great at crafts but I will try anything!